Show ! attacking ans thing that came close lasing never tangled with siiiallinouth I syas pretty jazzed Anti standing there holding my ballcap zephyr I atop my head in the was pretty darned disappointed My 1 Fighting the elements only part of the adventure - - mid- - ( sir'li of food in lrckr ' Curses Foiled againi Then I heard the first big splash Then another At first I looked skysvartl thinking an overflying passenger aircraft hatl ' inadvertently-jettisonea Samsonite Or perhaps a meteorite made impact No vapor trail-Nothin- i tf it i Wi Mlh'-- r - g carp kepton jumping made my first cast letting the big streamer sink The' water waist-dee- p and refreshingly coed was stirred - " Up enough that big barbiemouthed carp jumped within mere feet of my position I stripped the fly ' in slowly hoping the rabbit fur quivered with the mcition V of the water Nothing The big 1 (MU : arrises in die form of - stiff spring gust Not est iii month t tf spring sriow stpiull dropped) fliot of fresh ow(iT on me wlnlr 1 unsiii t csshilly plied the- rivers emerald water lor bright fresh ' riiiilWivs' Tliit my 1m k: fill used to it the ay Ix fore though ii seemed as though even iiiytiii ti orologifil fortunes Wouldn't hc riilnigh lo mi ss up i: sermingiy jrrf angling situation A few of ifs fly fisht rv over the touutcT at the local flv it' :was somehow tjist oseml that this scry' flat was rumored to lit- a m:illiiiojitlihotsoi ii A hirge rt prest hfaitijn of thesStiake's growing m iKiihmmihers ami iiipularity : among anglers population ofbronzehieks syas supposed io he feeding in these ' shill'ivVs guarding lheir redds and- - I t shop-whc-f- fish kept on jumping cast again this time shooting as much floating lipe out as a I could while standing in the water Twice I felt sizable p ' humps against my breathable waders - the water was murky enoujgh that the swam right into mic Since I vyas confident some of these fish pushed 30 v pounds and that some Of them had mouths n the diameter of a skillet the ' collisions hit a were frequent unnerving "This time ! retrieved the fly even’ slower letting it drift with the modest current- Oh about the third strip I felt "resistance Instinctively’ I lifted the tip of my rex I In doing sol set the hcxik in the lip of ' is " a "I 'gazed out over the flat' hoping to ciitch a glimpse of a jumping smallmouth when I sasy the first fish break the water1 "It was a Kehemoth ’a smallmouth world record withoirt a doubt t sprinted bthe svater's edge readying tp least a green Crystal Bugger into the murky 'drink ' Then I noticed another monstrous' fish' " breach the surface And another Kach time iihig fish erupted from the river my' ' hopes' onct buoycal sank t heeallie inc reasingly' clear tial these fish were not jii fac t giant genetically Enhanced : : - cast-iro- : ' smallmoiitlibass No sir The fish soliig they couldn't cjuite break free of lie svater svere i isvlv ” I : : I hip-dee- -- 's ' - " earlier a brilliant spriiig day outlie ( iallatin Kiser north of W si Yi lIowsloti'-Moiilurh':il foul v I s disgusted look on my faiel base :i kna k for in) mtig Ill'Tlt g stood fly rod at the ready And while knew I would never be able to land a fish that size with a fly rod fish the thought of fighting such a big sent chills down my spine- I looked around I was alone Nnhodv had to know ' 1 rejilaced the Crystal Bugger with a big weighted riihhit fur streamer I'd tied when I fished for surf perch off the Northern California coast (why this ' happened to hein my fly box I’ll never know) and waded into the drjnk The big - l bottom-feedin- ! rlearerssjit'T ' Aii'l pisi iv'li K t)tlil)lf as (lit- spring breeze there' J Muod’siariiig out out tin flit with what lm sure sva-- a lilt g disgusting carp Yuck Yet there ot Miy diy ('y r ago Typical late sprmgsvmds pusher tln ir way iii tliV- - big riser snrring up the ' k ii' c f p shillows and sending the MiiilliiKiutliHi ( fly rorl all geared lip ready for action whistled forlornly in the wintl siirfit of rh- bar k water Shake Kiser jlit was ' ajifimg4nir flittbit garbage-eatin- near-consta- nt when angling in the West h'- - despicable - ' : ' (untinued oh iiext page - ' |